Sources: Survey findings from the National College Health Assessment administered at the University of Colorado and the University of California, Los Angeles' "The American Freshman: National Norms Fall 2010" survey

The emotional health of college freshmen has sunk to an all-time low, according to a new study, and college counselors -- including those at the University of Colorado -- say more students than ever are coping with anxiety and depression.

Fifty-two percent of students self-reported that their emotional health is "above average," according to the annual survey from the University of California-Los Angeles that polls entering students at four-year colleges and universities. That's 3.4 percent fewer than in 2009 and a drop from 63.6 percent when the survey first started in 1985.

Contributing to students' stress are high expectations for good grades and academic success, as well as financial concerns about paying for college, according to the findings.

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CU's Boulder campus has responded to students' increasing mental health needs by using student fees to pay for a new, after-hours emergency mental health line, operating satellite Counseling and Psychological services branches across the campus and adding two post-doctorate fellows to its staff of a dozen full-time therapists.

At CU-Boulder, 22 percent of the nearly 600 students responding to a survey in 2009 reported they had a mental health diagnosis. The National College Health Assessment -- which CU partakes in -- is administered every other year, and it was recently expanded to ask students whether they've been diagnosed or treated for anxiety, panic attacks, insomnia, phobias and other mental-health problems.

In the past, the survey only queried about depression, and in 2007, 17.6 percent of CU students surveyed reported they had diagnoses, according to Robin Kolble, manager of community health at CU.

The revamped survey makes it difficult to benchmark changes over the years, and Kolble suspects that some students who suffered from anxiety or other mental illness responded that they had "depression" because they weren't given any other options.

The latest 2009 results show that 11.6 percent of CU-Boulder students have been diagnosed or treated for depression and 12.6 percent suffer from anxiety.

"In high school, I always thought 'I've got to get straight A's and be in the National Honors Society," said Russman, a biology student.

She is a presidential scholar at CU, earning $55,000 over the course of four years -- but feels tremendous pressure in maintaining good grades because of the expectations that she places on herself as well as the stipulations for the scholarship, which she relies on financially. Students receiving the scholarship, which is awarded to top out-of-state students, must maintain at least a 2.5 grade-point average their freshmen year and 2.75 in future years.

Karen Raforth, the director of Counseling and Psychological Services at CU, has worked in the college mental health field for three decades. She said that the number of students diagnosed with mental-health issues is increasing, consistent with trends at schools across the country.

"The symptoms are worsening and the number of students coming in with symptoms is growing," she said.

On average, counselors visit with 193 students a month for therapy.

In some cases, the new experiences associated with college life exasperate already existing depression or anxiety problems, she said. Stigma surrounding mental illness is lessening, she said. And mental-health professionals say that improved psychiatric medications are removing barriers from college.

Last year, CU implemented an urgent mental health line, which fields emergency calls from students outside of the university's business hours. Counselors are able to call for police welfare checks if students are suicidal. The urgent line fielded 426 phone calls in its first year -- about one-third of which were from parents concerned about their students.

Raforth said that the university is also setting up satellite offices throughout the campus to reach students who might not otherwise make appointments with counselors. Areas where the office is operating outreach branches include the Williams Village dorm complex, near the law school, and will be starting one for international students this week.

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